Burning Rose - Red
by Alice Moonflowyr
Summary: Blake Belladonna is the lead singer for the cover band Burning Rose, and meets her bandmates younger sister, agreeing to teach her how to sing. Soon enough, a DJ starts playing in Burning Roses' normal club, a solitary figure called Red. Tensions run high in and out of the club as Red threatens BR's time slot, and Blake struggles with odd feelings for her friends little sister.
1. Ignorance

In the dark, dank backstage room of a nightclub, all Blake Belladonna could hear was a dim applause and cheering from outside, her own ragged breathing, and the pounding of her heartbeat in her ear. She was vaguely aware of two other girls besides her, one of whom had their face illuminated by the cell phone in her hands. Weiss. Her name was Weiss. Her hair was snowy white and tied into a side ponytail, and she wore a white blouse with high heeled boots of a similar color. She bit her lower lip as she looked at the screen, her foot tapping impatiently.

The muscly, sweaty one in the yellow tank top and black shorts stretching on the other side of Blake was Yang. Yang Xiao Long, the loud, buxom blonde from whom this idea originated. She stood up and headed over to the door and tapped another figure on the shoulder, saying something in his ear.

Jaune. That's Jaune, the one in the gray t-shirt and blue jeans, spinning a pair of wooden drumsticks in his hands. Blake thought he was a total dork, a minor airhead, and totally hopeless. Why was she associating with him again?

More cheering. Yang came over and tapped her shoulder, pulling her up off the couch and putting her hands on her shoulders, staring into her eyes. "Blake? Blake. Blake!" she shouted, shaking the brunette a little.

"…h-what?" Blake said suddenly, shaking her head and blinking. "Are we on?"

"Yes, we're on. Are you ready? You good?" Yang said, looking slightly concerned.

"Yeah, I'm good. Butterflies everywhere, but I'm good." Blake said, smiling as she tied her hair into a ponytail using the black ribbon she had tied into a bow on her wrist. She tied it into a similar bow to hold her hair in place, and she walked out onto the stage behind Yang, who carried an electric guitar. It was a bright red Stratocaster with a black pick guard, and Yang handled it with great care as she walked out on stage, plugging into her amp.

Behind Blake was Weiss, carrying her dark blue Ibanez bass, idly strumming a few of the notes as she headed over to her amp, plugging in and giving the thumbs up to the sound guy as she started to test it.

Jaune was sitting at the drum set. He never brought his own, just used the one the nightclub had set up there. It looked a little old and rickety, but it was a drum set and it made thump noises, so it was good enough for their standards and use.

Blake herself headed to center stage, grabbing the black-headed microphone and making sure the cord wasn't tangled and that she had enough slack to move freely without tripping anyone up.

"You all good?" the sound tech asked.

Yang gave him a thumbs up and nodded. "We're all set. Blake, you okay?"

Blake pressed her index and middle finger to her neck. Her pulse was slamming against her fingers at a rapid pace, and she took a couple deep breaths to slow down her heart rate so she could concentrate. "I'm good."

…

Lights flared on and illuminated them, blinding Blake for a few moments. She quickly re-ran their short setlist through their head again as Yang laughed, starting her strumming immediately, the very recognizable intro to _Ignorance_ by Paramore ringing out through her amp.

Blake closed her eyes and started tapping her feet, counting out every beat, every measure, until twelve measures had passed and the lyrics to the opening verse slipped out of her mouth, her hand darting up to grip the microphone firmly so it stayed lined up with her mouth. The steady bass line of Weiss and the beat from Jaune accompanied her initial lyrics before Yang jumped in with the rhythm guitar.

"If I'm a bad person, you don't like me, well I guess I'll make my own way. It's a circle, a mean cycle, I can't excite you anymore….where's your gavel, your jury, what's my offense this time? You're not a judge but if you're gonna judge me, well sentence me to another life…."

A sudden change of pace, and Blake was trying not to mangle the lyrics as Yang's lead/rhythm got even more intense, the two of them launching into the chorus.

"Don't wanna hear your sad songs, I don't wanna feel your pain, when you swear it's all my fault cus you know we're not the same, we're not the same, oh we're not, the same. Yeah the friends who stick together, we wrote our names in blood, but I guess you can't accept that the change is good, it's good, it's…gooood! Well you treat me just like, another stranger, well it's nice to meet you sir! I guess I'll go! I best be on my way out…., you treat me just like! Another stranger, well it's nice to meet you sir! I guess I'll go! I best be on my way out…"

Blake pulled the mic out of the stand at some point during that and started to walk over to Yang, belting the lyrics out at her and strutting up to her near the end, leaning into her and holding the microphone so they could both sing into it.

"Ignorance is your new best friend, ignorance is your new best friend!"

Yang laughed a little as Blake headed back to center stage, grabbing the top of the mic stand and using it to steady herself as she leaned over, staring out at the cheering crowd as she slipped into the second verse, her ponytail keeping her hair out of her face as she sang.

"And this is the best thing, that could have happened, any longer and I wouldn't have made it…it's not a war, no, it's not a rapture, I'm just a person but you can't take it! The same tricks that, that once fooled me, they won't get you anywhere…I'm not the same kid, from your memory, well now I can fend for myself…."

Launching into the second chorus, Yang crowed and started whipping her hair back and forth as her fingers moved from fret to fret with practiced ease, tossing a look at Jaune who was sweating hard, focus evident on his face as he keeps up with the fast drumbeat.

Blake was finishing up the second chorus as she moved over to Weiss, leaning against her so they were back to back as she finished up. "You treat me just like! Another stranger, well it's nice to meet you sir! I guess I'll go! I best be on my way out…"

"Ignorance is your new best friend, ignorance is your new best friend, ignorance is your new best friend, ignorance is your new best friend!" She belted out, pulling away from Weiss and strutting back towards center stage, laughing under her breath as Yang shredded on the guitar solo, on her knees and showing off to the crowd. When she was finished she hopped back onto her feet, getting her hair out of her face with a toss of her head and nodding towards Blake to finish up.

"Well you treat me just like! Another stranger well it's nice to meet you, sir! I guess I'll go, I best be on my way out! You treat me just like, another stranger well it's nice! To meet you sir! I guess I'll go, I best be on my way out."

The song ended abruptly as the crowd cheered loudly, clapping as Blake high-fived Yang, laughing happily. She immediately regretting this decision and prayed for her stinging palm. Yang takes high fives seriously. Very. Seriously.

…

They finished off their quick set with two more songs before moving backstage, sweat pouring down Blake's brow. Her heart was about to pound right out of her chest, and she swore she tasted blood in her mouth as she rushed over to the minifridge, yanking the door open and snagging a bottle of water. Cracking it open, she dumped half the contents over her head, and then rapidly gulped the rest down, gasping in relief as the ice cold liquid washed over the back of her mouth and her throat.

"That was a fantastic show, guys!" Yang said with a laugh and a smile, putting one arm around Weiss's shoulders and the other around Blake's, pulling them into a bear hug.

The two girls yelped, and Weiss started to screech, her arms flailing.

"You oaf! Get off of us!" she yelled out, slapping uselessly at Yang until the blonde let them both go.

She grinned wide for a few moments as she squeezed them a bit before letting them go, cackling a little. "You two want to come spend the night at my place? My parents are out for the weekend, so it's just me and my baby sister."

"You have…a sister?" Blake gasped, still out of breath from the show and the bear hug, panting lightly. "I didn't know that, you don't quite seem like the sister type."

Yang opened her mouth as if to object to that, then remembered that Blake and her had met only six months ago when Weiss introduced the two of them at school, and since then, Blake had seen her about three or four different kinds of drunk, disorderly, various petty criminal behaviors, and very many times where her underwear 'accidentally' ended up in the crowd. So instead she just huffed and crossed her arms.

"Yeah I have a little sister. She's really sweet, little weird though. I'll make sure she doesn't bother us."

Blake laughed a little and looked over to Weiss, shrugging. "I have no plans for tomorrow, and my parents don't really give a crap where I end up as long as I don't die."

"I….will have to call my father." Weiss muttered, bringing her cell up to her ear. After getting permission, Yang herded the two girls to her car and made the quick drive home, banging on the front door of the suburban home.

It looked pretty cozy, a two floor house that was painted a light sunflower color. The door was white, and the porch was covered by a slanted awning. Blake still dripped a little onto the wood as she used her jacket to dry herself off a little.

"Ruuuubes! I'm hooooome!" Yang yelled out as she continued to bang on the door. "Open up!"

"Don't you have a key?" Weiss hissed at Yang, wincing from the loud banging and yelling.

"I may or may not have forgot it." Yang said shortly, banging on the door again. "Ruuuu-by!"

A few more moments passed before it flung open, and the three girls were greeted to the sight of Yangs younger sister. She was about a head shorter than Blake, and a little taller than Weiss. She had black hair with red highlights, and her eyes were a striking silver. She was wearing a loose t-shirt that looked three sizes too big and a pair of sweat pants repurposed as very short shorts.

"Yaaaang, I was just about to go to…to….beeeeed." Ruby groaned, interrupting herself with a yawn. Then she blinked and noticed the other two girls. "Who're they?"

"My friends. Now let us in and make yourself scarce, I don't need you butting in on these friends too." Yang said, ruffling Ruby's hair and pushing inside the house.

"I don't butt in! I'm _lonely_!"

"Then make your own friends, like I told you a thousand times." Yang said with a grin.

"I'm not good at it! Why can't we just share your friends?" Ruby grumbled, crossing her arms and huffing.

Yang ruffled her sisters hair again. "Because they're my friends! Now shoo. C'mon guys, my room is this way…" she said, her voice trailing off as she led Weiss over to her room. Ruby huffed and walked over to the fridge, pulling it open and digging around in it a little.

Blake stayed behind, waiting until Yang was out of earshot before approaching Ruby, tapping her shoulder lightly. "Um…hello!" she said quickly.

"M-meep!" Ruby screeched, jumping and whirling to face Blake. "H-hi! Hello! Hi there! Um, I'm Ruby! Yang's little sister! Do you need something? Soda, water, food? A towel? You look a little wet…I'm sorry I asked! I won't pry! Yang doesn't let me talk to her friends so I don't really know what's going on her, she usually thinks I'm getting in the way so she makes me go to my room and leave her alone and-"

"Blake!" Blake said loudly, interrupting Ruby with a small smile on her face. "My name is Blake. It's nice to meet you." She said, her voice softening as she held a hand out to Ruby.

Ruby blinked and was silent for a moment before reaching out to grasp Blake's hand, shaking it lightly before pulling back. "Oh, erm, hi Blake. Um…d-did you need something? None of Yangs friends talk to me unless they need something…"

Shrugging, Blake leaned against the counter. "Nah, I'm good. I just wanted to introduce myself. I know Yang and I was rather surprised to hear she had a little sister. So I wanted to meet you. Sort of. I don't know. Was that bad?" she said, trailing off at the end and looking a bit lost.

Ruby let out a small giggle and shook her head. "Nooo! I like meeting new people! I just…I'm not good at starting the conversation, which is why I don't have many friends. Um…you play in Yang's band, right?" she asked, her demeanor getting a lot less on-edge and anxious and a lot more…Blake's only comparison was a puppy dog, as Ruby stared at her with wide eyes, a big smile, and she was fidgeting as she started to walk somewhere. As she followed her, Blake was positive that if Ruby had a tail right now, it would be wagging at full speed.

"Yeah, I'm the lead singer actually! Tonight was our first real performance, it was crazy scary, I almost puked."

"Whaaaat?" Ruby gasped, whirling around again and standing on tiptoe, putting the back of her hand on Blake's forehead and cheeks. "That's not good! Are you okay, are you sick? Do you need something to settle your stomach?"

Blake eeped slightly under her breath as Ruby touched her face, and she felt herself getting hot with a pink tint on her cheeks. "N-no! I'm okay! It was just stage fright, that's all…" she said in a small voice.

The small brunette nodded and grabbed Blake's arm. "Hey, can you come help me with something?" she asked, dragging Blake into her room and closing the door.

Yelping as she started to get dragged, Blake started to shake her head and make an excuse. "Um, I think Yang is…expecting…me…." She said, her excuse trailing off as she saw Ruby's room. "Whoa."

At the far corner of the room was Ruby's bed and dresser, but the rest of the room was almost a small recording studio. It had a desk with a PC on it, and there were microphones, guitars, both electric and acoustic, an electric synthesizer, and a drum set. It was all rather cramped in the small space, but Ruby used the space well, none of it being wasted, with plenty of adequate room to walk around.

"What is all this?!" Blake gasped, letting out a little laugh as she walked around a little. "You can play all these?"

"I taught myself, sorta. The internet taught me." Ruby said, heading over to her computer and booting it up. "The only thing I can't do well yet is sing, and I was hoping you could…well, help me. Since you sing for Yang."

Blake blushed again and found another chair near Ruby's desk to sit at, crossing her legs and wringing her hands together a little. "U-uhm, well, singing for Yang was…different. She kinda caught me in the gym shower. When I thought it was empty. She wasn't supposed to hear me sing. And, well, singing to a crowd is different, there's so much adrenaline involved and…well, singing to one person is embarrassing!"

Ruby started pouting and looking at Blake, pleading puppy dog eyes staring right at the older girl. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease? I'll do anything to make it up to you, I promise!" she whined, squirming around in her seat a little.

Blushing even harder, Blake squeaked and blurted out "Fine! Okay! I can try, I guess."

Ruby clapped her hands together and squealed, smiling happily as she started to dive at Blake, catching herself and stumbling a little. "O-oh! Sorry!" she squeaked.

Shaking her head, Blake held her arms out. "You get one."

Blinking, Ruby looked confused for a moment. Then she blushed and realized that Blake knew what she just stopped herself from doing, and she quickly wrapped Blake up in a tight hug. "Thank you thank you thank you! What do we do first?" she asked excitedly, pulling away from Blake.

"Well…" Blake said, her blush still making her face beet red from Ruby's hug. "I should…probably hear your voice first. Just to gauge what you already can do on your own."

Ruby nodded and took a deep breath, closing her eyes as her foot started to tap out a beat, her fingers tapping out an accompanying rhythm on her thigh. After about 45 seconds, she started to sing.

"He's a stranger to some and a vision to none, he can never get enough, get enough of the one, for a fortune he'd quit but it's hard to admit, how it ends and begins, on his face is a map of the world…a map of the world. On his face is a map of the world…a map of the world…"

Her voice was soft and soothing, and Blake recognized the opening verse to _From Yesterday_ by 30 Seconds to Mars. She found herself softly singing along as Ruby launched into the chorus, her voice picking up a lot of volume as she took a huge breath before starting it.

"From yeeeesterday it's coooming! From yeeesterday, the fear…. From yeeesterday, it calls him! But he doesn't want to read the message here….!"

She calmed down and cleared her throat, rubbing it slightly as her face tinted slightly pink. "So um…what did you think?" she asked quietly.

"That…that was pretty good, honestly. Really good. I'm impressed." Blake said with a big smile on her face. "You didn't wobble much, if at all, and your voice is very smooth."

Ruby smiled widely and was about to say something else when her door opened and Yang poked her head in, frowning as she started to talk.

"Blake? What're you doing in here? Is Ruby bothering you?" she asked, pushing the door open the rest of the way and stepping into the room.

"It's fine, Yang, she isn't bothering me, I'm just talking to her. I'll be with you in a sec." she said, smiling gently as she stood up, rubbing Ruby's shoulder reassuringly.

Yang huffed and retreated out the door, shutting it behind her and muttering to herself as she walked down the hallway. "Can't make her own friends, so she keeps trying to steal mine. Great. Fantastic."

Blake gave Ruby a comforting smile and pulled her phone out from her pocket. "It was really nice meeting you…Ruby, right? Do you want my number? I'd love to give you some singing lessons, if you can do something for me."

Ruby nodded and rubbed the back of her neck a little, grabbing her own phone from where it sat on her desk. "Yeah! Yeah sure, I um, huh? What would I do for you?"

"Can you teach me how to play piano? I've never learned."

"Of course I can!" Ruby said happily, handing her phone to Blake. "Here, just put your number in here and I can text you! And I'll put my number in your phone."

After the two exchanged numbers and a final quick goodbye, Blake ducked out of her room and located Yang in her room, and was greeted with a pillow to the face.

"Having fun with my sister?" Yang said, poking her tongue out at Blake.

"You didn't have to be so rude you know, she was just talking to me." Blake said with a wry smile on her face.

"Yeah, well…I've given her a thousand pep talks on making her own friends at school, but she always chickens out at the last second. I love my sister, but she always tries to butt into my business when I'm hanging with my friends."

Shaking her head, Blake, sat down on Yangs bed and idly engaged in conversation with her two friends, but couldn't get the soft voice and shy demeanor of the little sister a few rooms over out of her head.

…

Ruby was lying down on the bed, sighing and staring at the screen of her phone. The minutes ticked by until it was nearly one in the morning, and she could still hear Yang, Weiss, and Blake making noise in the next room. She eventually clicked her display off and put her phone on the bedside table, plugged into the charger. Plopping her head on the pillow, she let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. Encountering the same problem as the brunette, Ruby couldn't quite get that encouraging smile and reassuring pat on the shoulder out of her mind….


	2. Something Good

_Bling_!

Ruby blinked her eyes open and rolled over in her bed, yawning and stretching as she cuddled back up under her blankets, closing her eyes again and settling back into…. _bling_!

Grumbling, Ruby rolled back over and yanked her phone out of the charger, clicking it on and fumbling around with her passcode until she could figure out what was making her phone annoying. When she finally got her phone to cooperate, she saw she had a few texts from Blake.

 _Blake: Hey, are you awake still?_

 _Blake: Ruuuby?_

 _Blake: It's Blake! Remember me, girl sleeping in the next room over?_

Ruby blinked and looked a bit stunned. Checking the time, it was just an hour later after she had fallen asleep. Silence was all she could hear coming from Yangs room, and Blake had started texting her about twenty minutes ago.

 _Ruby: Yeah, I'm up now! What's up?_

She texted back, wondering why Blake was texting her in the middle of the night.

 _Blake: I dunno, I'm bored and I can't sleep yet._

The response came almost immediately, and Ruby settled under her covers, her face illuminated by the soft light of her screen. She smiled gently and started to text back.

 _Ruby: So your first instinct was to text me? :p_

 _Blake: Is that bad? Did I wake you up? I'm sorry!_

Ruby snickered a little and rolled over, pushing her hair out of her face and adjusting her pillow a little, still slightly drowsy.

 _Ruby: Kinda, but I don't mind ^w^_

 _Blake: You should go back to sleep! I didn't mean to wake you up, I'm sorry. We can talk tomorrow!_

 _Ruby: awww, okay. ttyl!_

 _Blake: Goodnight!_

 _Ruby: g'night! ^^_

Pouting lightly, Ruby clicked her phone off again and replaced it in the charger, her head hitting the pillow as she let out a soft sigh, her heartbeat going slightly faster than normal. She was a little jittery, but she attributed that to being suddenly woken up like that. A long, soft yawn escaped her mouth before she drifted off to sleep again.

…

A few rooms over, Blake was experience a similar rapid heartbeat as she put her own phone away. She was lying on a futon Yang had set up on the floor while she and Weiss shared the bed. She rubbed her eyes and let out a pent-up breath she didn't even realize she was holding, grumbling under her breath as she pulled the blankets up to her chin and tried to get to sleep.

The next morning, Blake blinked awake to find that she was the first to wake up. Pulling herself out of bed, she stretched and rubbed the back of her neck, creeping out of the room so as not to wake up Weiss and Yang. Creeping into the kitchen, she opened the fridge to see if there was an apple or orange she could steal for breakfast.

"Morning!" came a cheery voice from behind her.

"E-eeep!" Blake yiped, nearly falling over in surprise. "R-ruby! You scared me!" she squeaked, frowning as she crossed her arms.

Ruby was wearing a panda onesie with a hood, her big silver eyes staring at Blake. She was holding a bowl of Cheerios, bringing another spoonful to her mouth and trying to not let any milk spill. "Sorry! I'm not used to having other people awake in the morning. Dad sleeps until noon most of the time, and Raven works in the morning so I never see her. Yang is like Dad. Sleeps like a LOG."

Blake huffed and looked at Ruby's bowl of cereal, a loud rumble coming from her stomach as she did so. She blushed lightly and looked away, rubbing the back of her neck. "S-sorry."

Ruby just giggled. "Hungry? There's cereal in the cupboard there, or there's a fresh package of bacon in the fridge I think if you want. Ooh, I think we have frozen waffles too…" Ruby said as she set her bowl down on the counter, slipping behind Blake to crouch in front of the pull-out freezer, grunting as she yanked it open, falling down on her rear as she did so. Checking inside, she crowed triumphantly as she pulled a box of frozen waffles out. "Aha! Found you! Here, make some." she said, handing them to Blake. "I'll make bacon."

Accepting the box of waffles wordlessly, Blake blinked and started to look around for a toaster or something to put the waffles in. She located one on the counter next to the sink, plugging it in and spending a few moments figuring out how to work it and how long the waffles needed to be in there.

While Blake did that, Ruby was whistling and humming happily, cutting open the package of bacon with some scissors and pulling out a frying pan, turning on the gas stovetop and letting the pan heat up, her bowl of cereal forgotten on the counter.

Soon enough, the sizzling of bacon filled the kitchen, the smell of toasted waffles and bacon wafting down the hallway towards Yang's room. While Ruby waited for her sister's bloodhound nose to pick up the bacon scent, she started talking to Blake.

"Did you sleep okay?" she chirped, laying a second round of bacon into the pan as she set the first round on some paper towels to cool off.

Blake nodded as she pulled open the fridge, trying to find maple syrup. "Yeah, I slept fine! Yang snores though."

"Oh trust me, I know. I had to share a room with her when she came to visit me when I lived with my mom. She kept me up for HOURS."

"Visit you? Your mom?" Blake asked, curiosity piqued.

"Oh. Yang didn't mention it? I'm only her half sister. Same dad, different moms. Raven is her mom."

Blake nodded, choosing to not press the question of Ruby's mom at the moment, letting the topic rest as she moved onto something else. "Is it normal for her to share her bed with a friend?" she asked wryly.

"Not normally, why? Did she try and get you to share?"

"No, she got Weiss to share, actually." Blake said, letting out a small 'aha' as she located the syrup.

"Really? That's kinda surprising, they usually don't get close to each other. I'm kind of surprised they're friends, they seem to hate each other."

Blake was about to respond when a thundering bellow echoed through the hallway, quick footfalls preceding the arrival of a frizzy-haired, half-nude blonde bursting into the kitchen.

"I SMELL BACON." Yang said loudly, pushing her hair out of her face and grinning as she darted over to the stovetop. "Mmm…" she reached out for a piece and Ruby squeaked.

"Wait, Yang, it's-"

"OW!"

"Hot…"

Yang hissed and put her fingers in her mouth, whining as she made puppy eyes at the two girls. "The bacon betrayed me!"

Ruby sighed and pointed Yang towards the stack of waffles. "Just wait like two more minutes, eat a waffle. Blake got the syrup out, here, I even got a plate for you."

"You're the best, Rubes." Yang said as she drenched her two waffles in maple syrup before sectioning them with a fork, sitting down on the countertop and eating her waffles.

Blake rolled her eyes and got her own waffles, drizzling maple syrup on them and digging in, closing her eyes and letting out a contented moan. Sneaking over, she snagged a couple pieces of bacon and put them on her plate before Yang could devour it all.

"Yang!" came a distressed voice from down the hallway. "You nearly knocked me over, what's the big deal?"

Weiss emerged from the hallway, her hands on her hips as she huffed at Yang, pouting in a rather adorable manner. She was wearing a white nightgown with her hair down, glaring at the blonde girl.

Yang stopped chewing and put on a very innocent face, pointing at herself. "Me? Nooo, you have me confused with some other gorgeous blonde woman."

Ruby tilted her head to the side and added. "Yang, are you implying there's another blonde woman out there that's just as gorgeous as you are?"

"…Well….I….um…shut up Ruby." Yang muttered, attacking her waffles and bacon with renewed vigor.

Weiss huffed again and walked over to the stovetop. "Good morning Ruby, nice to see you again. I certainly hope you've set aside some food for me."

"Yep yep! Here you go Weiss." Ruby said, handing Weiss a plate with waffles and bacon. "Blake got the syrup out, it's over there."

Blake sidled over to Ruby as Weiss sat next to Yang, scolding her about her 'morning etiquette'. As the two friends bickered, Ruby poked Blake's arm.

"Can you help me more today? It's a weekend, so you don't have school right? You can hang out with me?" Ruby asked quietly.

"Mhm! We're playing another gig tonight, same place same time, so I do have to go do that, but until then I'm free." Blake said, swirling her last chunk of waffle around in the maple syrup and popping it into her mouth before placing her dishes in the sink, rinsing her hands of the sticky syrup and drying them off.

Ruby finished up as well and led the way to her bedroom, Yang and Weiss's bickering getting louder and more heated, so the two were glad to get away from them.

Blake sat down across from Ruby in the same seats as before, and she rubbed the back of her neck. "Okay…so, the first thing I'm gonna teach you is how to breath properly. That's really the only piece of formal training I got, so I suppose that's the best place to start."

"I'm not breathing properly?" Ruby squeaked, her eyes widening.

"No, nonono, that's not what I meant. There's a certain way you need to breath when you sing, so you get the most volume and power out of your voice and so you use your air in the most efficient way." Blake said, giggling a little.

Sighing in relief, Ruby nodded. "Kay, so what does that mean?"

"Well, when you sang for me before, you sang from your throat. You don't want to do that."

Ruby looked very confused at that. "Well…then where on earth am I supposed to sing from? My ears?"

Blake snickered. "No, goofball. Your diaphragm."

"Gesundheit."

"No, it's…a muscle, that's like, in your belly. Right there." Blake said, poking Ruby's belly where her diaphragm was. "If you sing from there, you get way more volume and power in your voice. You can hold notes longer, you can make them louder, etcetera."

Ruby yelped and giggled a little as Blake poked her belly, squirming a bit in her seat. "Okay, so…how do I breathe properly then?"

"Well, take a deep breath for me." Blake said.

Acquiescing, Ruby took a deeeep breath, her shoulders rising and falling with it.

Blake tapped Ruby's shoulders. "See, that's what you don't want to do. Don't raise your shoulders when you breath, instead you should push your belly out. Try it."

Ruby frowned and tried again, trying to keep her shoulders from moving. She took one deep breath, pushing her belly out when she breathed in, then sucking it in when she let the breath out. "Whooooa…that feels weird."

"Yeah, it'll feel weird when you first start doing it. There are muscles there, so you aren't used to using them and it'll feel weird and sore. So try singing a note, first from your throat like you normally do, then try the thing I showed you. Breath in, then sing out."

Nodding, Ruby took a breath in, her shoulders rising. "Aaaaa!" she sang, her shoulders falling as she sang out the note.

"Now try it with the other way of breathing, see if you can feel a difference!"

Now Ruby pushed her belly out on the breath in, and sucked it in as she sang out once more. "Aaaa-aaaa!" she sang, and this time the note was fuller and much louder. "W-whoa!"

Grinning, Blake poked her belly again. "The reason it does that is because when you suck your gut in like that, it pushes the air out and gives the note more air to work with, giving it a lot more oomph."

"That's cool!" Ruby said, gasping. "Is that what you do?"

"Yeah, although sometimes I forget. It's hard when you've spent years and years breathing with your shoulders instead of your belly, so that's what you default to. But when you sing that way, you get breathy really fast, your air runs out, and you don't maximize its use. So you want to sing this way."

"So…is that it? I just need to practice that?" Ruby said, blinking a little.

"Well there's more to it, but yes, that's essentially what you need to do. Do it along with a scale, since you play piano you can use that. Play a note on the piano and match it while using that breathing technique."

"Awesome! So….I suppose I owe you a quick piano lesson then?" Ruby said, smiling happily. She stood up and walked over to her synthesizer, turning it on and settling onto the bench, patting the seat next to her. "Come sit!"

Blake sat down next to Ruby, looking down at the keyboard, which was rather indecipherable to her. Ruby started to talk and point at notes, but Blake's mind was occupied with something else at the moment.

 _She smells….really nice…_ she thought, the smell of Ruby's hair right under her nose. She smelled like strawberries.

"Blake? Blake!" Ruby said, snapping her fingers in front of Blake's face. "Are you okay?"

"Eep! Yeah, yeah I'm okay! Sorry, I guess I'm still half asleep." Blake said, a deep blush hitting her face as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"You know musical notes right?" Ruby asked.

"Uhm…it goes from A to G, right?"

"Yes! Here, this right here is middle C…" Ruby said, pointing at a key in the middle of the keyboard. "That's the very center of the keyboard, kinda. It's sort of your landmark, like an anchor point. You can use middle C to find any other note, especially on sheet music."

"Middle C, gotcha."

"And then this is D. You can remember that it's D, because the arrangement of keys looks like a dog!" Ruby chirped, pointing out how the white key with the two black keys on either side did look somewhat like a dog. "Then it goes E, F, G, A, B, and then treble C!"

Blake nodded as Ruby went up the scale, noting how her fingers moved. "That's a scale, right?"

"Mhm! That's C major, with no sharps or flats." She said, playing the octave up and down again. "You try! Put your thumb on the middle C, like this…then your index finger on D, yep, yeah! Like that! Now play C, D, then E."

Blake played those keys, then tried to keep going with the scale, but Ruby stopped her. "No, no, you don't do it like that. After you play the first three, you tuck your thumb under like this…" she said, gently grabbing Blake's thumb and pushing it towards the F key. "Then you play F, G, A with your first three fingers, then finish the scale with your last two on B and C!"

Nodding, Blake put her thumb back on middle C and tried it again, slowly playing the first three notes, then tucking her thumb under to hit the F key, then completing the scale with the rest of her hand.

"You did it!" Ruby chirped. "C Major has no sharps or flats, so it's one of the easier keys to play in. It sounds kinda generic though, my favorite is D minor." Ruby said, playing a melancholy sounding chord.

Ruby ran Blake through the C Major key, explaining the numbering for her fingers, with her thumb being finger 1 and her pinkie being finger 5, and explaining the different kinds of chords.

After about an hour, Blake rubbed the back of her head. "That's a lot of information…I think we can take a break now, I need to absorb all that."

"Okay! Do you want to do something else?"

"I think…hold on, Yang is texting me."

 _Yang: Rehearsal? We don't wanna balls it up tonight! Get your butt out here, we're driving over to Jaunes!_

"Oh, shiit…I forgot, Yang wanted to do a last minute rehearsal today…" Blake muttered. "I'm sorry, Ruby…"

"O-oh. It's alright, I have your number, remember? And I have to practice the breathing stuff you showed me…" Ruby said, grinning as she stood up, stretching a little. "It was really nice hanging out! I hope we can do it more in the future, you seem really nice…you and Weiss are the only friends Yang has had that aren't mean to me. And I think Weiss is only nice since she's known me since I was little."

Blake couldn't help but feel a bit bad, she genuinely enjoyed hanging out with Ruby this morning and wasn't exactly thrilled to leave. But she sighed and shrugged, holding her hand out to quickly shake Ruby's. "Yeah, it was really nice. We'll do it again soon, okay? Tomorrow is a Sunday, we don't have a gig that night, so no rehearsals or anything."

"Okay!" Ruby said. "I'll text you later, okay?" she said, pushing the hood for her panda onesie off her head as she smiled at Blake.

"Definitely, now I gotta go or Yang will murder me."

…

The rehearsal took more than a few hours, with Yang drilling them through the songs over and over again. Blake stepped out after a while so as to rest her voice. Eventually, the foursome went out for a very late lunch, pizza at one of the local places.

Jaune and Yang were laughing over some dumb pun as Weiss huffed, rolling her eyes and eating her pizza quietly. Blake had finished hers and was currently on her phone, smiling at it every few minutes.

"Who's the guy?" Weiss asked, a look of interest on her face.

"H-huh?" Blake said, startled a little as she blushed lightly. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"Oh please, I know that look. You got some cute guys' number and you're texting him and you're all giddy with excitement. Who is it, do I know them?" Weiss asked, leaning forward to try and look at Blake's screen.

"It's not a guy, Weiss, j-jeez!" Blake stuttered out, pulling her phone back and hiding the screen.

Weiss looked thoughtful for a few moments. "Is it a girl? I didn't know you swung that way."

"It's Ruby! Jeez Weiss, I'm just texting Ruby." Blake huffed, blushing a little deeper.

"Ruby is still a girl, in case you hadn't noticed." Weiss snickered.

"One more word out of you and this marinara sauce is finding a home on your face." Blake muttered.

Holding her hands up, Weiss leaned back with a wry smile on her face. "Hey, calm down! I'm just asking out of interest for what my friend gets up to."

"Wasn't aware you considered me a friend."

Weiss was quiet for a moment, then sighed. "Do you have a problem with me?"

"Nope. No problem. I just don't like people butting into my business." Blake muttered, her blush still evident on her cheeks.

Weiss rolled her eyes and turned to Yang, joining in with her and Jaune's conversation. Blake huffed and turned back to her phone, a smile returning to her face as she saw Ruby's latest text.

 _Ruby: My tummy hurts ;-;_

 _Blake: It's probably sore muscles, silly. How much have you been doing the breathing?_

 _Ruby: …all day?_

 _Blake: Ruby! Take a chill pill girl, you don't need to practice that much! You'll hurt yourself._

 _Ruby: But I want to get better!_

 _Blake: You can't get better if you hurt yourself._

 _Ruby: *grumps* Fine._

Blake giggled and clicked her phone off, waving down their waiter and asking for the check. She bickered with the other three for a few minutes on how to split the bill, then after that was settled they headed out towards the club. They had a show to play in about two hours.

…

"You guys are up in five, be ready." The sound tech told them. "You guys were good last time, you're a pretty decent cover band. You guys got a name?"

"Burning Rose." Yang said with a grin.

"Cool name. Anyway, on in five."

"Thanks Sun! We'll be ready." Yang said, turning to her bandmates. "You guys ready to do this again?"

Blake nodded and tied her hair into a ponytail again, listening to the cheer of the crowd as the previous act filtered off the stage, and she quickly strutted out with her bandmates, ready for the thumbs up from Sun.

When they got it, Yang started strumming the opening tune, with Weiss following along on bass. After a few quick measures of just guitar, Jaune started a slow, steady drumbeat as Blake vocalized a little bit, the opening to "Something Good" by Dead Sara almost muscle memory at this point with how much they practiced it.

"Where's your life boat, it's not so simple…you've got to take a chance for all you've, been through and lost. Let the waa-aals, come crumblin', you better, ho-ho-hope something good. Ho, are you gonna dance your heart, into the moment? Are you gonna lie to yourself, in attempt to reason? Are you gonna hold yourself, so highly regarded? Ho-ho-hope, something good…happens to you! As a part of me in love with you…and as a part of me. You better, you better, hope that something good, happens to you!"

Blake sang in an upbeat manner, grabbing the mic in one hand and bouncing on her feet, closing her eyes as the verse slid out of her throat, the steady drumbeat and guitar strumming accompanying her vocals. Yang supplemented her vocals with a little backup here and there, and as they moved into the chorus, Blake pulled the mic out of the stand and grinned, dancing a little on the stage and putting one arm above her head.

"As a part of me in love with you! As a part of me in love with you, whoa…as a part of me in love with you! Yeah, as a part of me yeaa-aah…"

Strutting over to Yang, Blake put an arm around her shoulders and swayed with her in tune with the song as she started the second verse, Yang laughing a little as she rested her head against Blake's.

"Where's your life gone? It's been a little bit evil…you've got to take a chance before it's all said and done…complicated, it's something easy, ho-ho-hope something good. Hoo, you better ho-ho-hope something good, happens to you! As a part of me in love with you! As a part of me in love with you, ohhh! As a part of me in love with you! You, you, ohhh! Are you gonna dance aloo-oone? Are you gonna lie to yourself, baby!? Are you gonna take your tii-iime? Are you gonna hold on?"

At this point in the song, all the instruments stopped and all four of them started singing, with Weiss and Yang clapping their hands above their head in time with the song, Jaune hitting his drumsticks together. The crowd followed along with the clapping as the foursome sang acapella for a verse.

"Are you gonna dance your heart, into the moment? Are you gonna lie to yourself, in attempt to reason? Are you gonna hold yourself, so highly regarded? Ho-ho-hope, something good…happens to you!"

Blake half danced, half skipped back to center stage as the music started again, laughing as she finished up the final verse of the song. "As a part of me in love with you! As a part of me in love with you, ohwhoaaa. As a part of me in love with you! You you you you you yeeeah! Are you gonna dance aloo-oone? Are you gonna lie to yourself, baby?! Are you gonna start with a hello and good-bye? Are you gonna hold on? Are you gonna hold oooon?"

"Oooh….ooooh!" Blake finished up as Yang strummed out the final notes of the song, Jaune finishing up his beat. Blake laughed happily as they got ready for their next song, and her phone buzzed in her pocket…

…

After the show, Blake ducked into the back room quickly and went straight for the bathroom, locking the door and letting out a long, pent up breath. As she splashed some water on her face, her phone buzzed again, and she pulled it out to take a look.

 _Ruby: Hey! I just wanna wish you good luck at your show. Wish I could watch ^w^_

 _Ruby: I guess you're playing now, I hope it's going well!_

 _Ruby: HeyheyheyBlakeguesswhat! You're on Youtube! You sound AWESOME!_

Blake tapped the video Ruby had sent her, and sure enough, it was a shaky, bad quality cell phone video of their performance from last night. She laughed softly and shot Ruby a quick text back before heading back into the room to get her ride home.

 _Blake: Show went great! I'm exhausted though, gonna head home. I'll txt you tomorrow morning to figure out what we're gonna do!_

…

Bling!

Ruby squeaked and nearly dropped her phone as it buzzed in her hand and made its little ding noise. Quickly unlocking it, she saw the text from Blake and smiled.

 _Ruby: Cool! Ttyl!_

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Hey guys! I'm baaaack~! And yeah, RWBY band AU! So, just some rambling here in the Author's Note, you don't have to read this.**

 **I'm really glad to be back, my life has been crazy hectic lately and not too much fun, so I'm glad that I got into writing again. Anyway, I really hope to have a someone regular upload schedule for this story, and I really hope you guys like it. I plan on putting lots of my trademark fluffy adorableness in this story!**

 **I get to do my closer now! I missed saying this.**

 **As always, enjoy, review, eat cookies, and have a wonderful day!**

 **...god I missed saying that.**

 **Ashley**


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